Page 37 of Melt the Ice

“I’m done.”

Lettie stares at the onlookers, specifically the women who have shown up at the cemetery once they caught wind that part of the hockey team was here. Freaking heartless vultures. I mean, honestly, it’s ten AM on a Thursday. Do they not have anything better to do, or is this a Wedding Crashers situation where they think picking up dates at said events is a real thing?

“You okay?” I ask, biting back a laugh at the death glare on her face.

Her bottom lip pokes out, big doe eyes look up at me, and I bite back a laugh. “I don’t think I’m good at sharing.” She mutters.

My head falls back behind me, a laugh so loud that it bounces off the trees, tumbles from me. What an odd sensation, laughing while my mom is being covered up with dirt a few feet away. But when my eyes meet hers, full of love for me, the hope I thought I lost reignites. “You’ve never had to share me, Lettie Girl. You and me forever, remember?”

Her smile is slow growing, but eventually, it’s blinding. Illuminating every dark and decrepit place inside me. “Yeah, Goldie. You and me forever.” She tucks herself into my side, and I throw my arm over her shoulder, pressing a quick kiss to her head.

“Thanks for being here,” I whisper. The confused looks we’re getting from the rest of our friends only makes me want to laugh harder. “Let’s go home?”

“Yeah, home.”

15

scarlett

Papi: Ready to stop playing stupid games, now? I can always push harder.

The text feels like it weighs a metric ton. My father is far from an upstanding citizen, but I'm unsure if his timing is coincidental or if he has something to do with Lucas’ mom’s death.

My leg bounces restlessly the entire drive back to the ranch. I’m sure my lip will have teeth-shaped cuts when I finally stop chewing on it. But I don’t know what to do with this. Do I show it to Lucas? Would that make things worse? Would it throw a monkey wrench into the progress we’ve made over the past week?

“What’s wrong?” He asks quietly. His arm stretches across the car, freeing my lip, eyes bouncing between me and the road.

“I don’t want to mess this up,” I whisper. “I’m not what most would consider ‘relationship material’, I don’t know how to ask for help. I don’t know how to let someone walk beside me.”

His fingers brush against my jaw, trailing over my collarbone until his hand rests against the back of my neck, “I’m not just someone, though, am I?” He smiles, eyes still trained on the road. “You don’t give me enough credit, Lettie Girl.”

“Who said I was talking about you?” I cross my arms over my chest and lean against the window, turning my body to face him.

His hand tightens around my nape as he pulls through the front gate, accelerating once we get to the straightaway that leads to my house. There’s no hesitation when he throws the car in park and jumps out, rounding the hood, his heated eyes sear into mine the whole time. He pulls my door open, and even though I knew it was coming, I still yelp. He unbuckles my seatbelt before pulling me from the car, and throwing me over his shoulder like I weigh nothing. “Lucas!” I squeal through a fit of laughter.

He doesn’t stop once we get inside. He takes me straight to the room he used to stay in. Slowly laying me back on the bed, he frames my head with his arms, heavy, half-lidded eyes pinning me in place. His pupils dilate, erasing most of the hazel as his gaze falls to my lips. The air thickens between us until it almost feels like a touch.

A touch I’ve been dreaming about since I was fourteen. “I need you to hear me when I say, there is no life without you in it. You leave me in this one, I’ll find you in the next. You run, I’ll chase. Until you tell me you don’t want this, I’ll be here, fighting for you. Just like I promised. But don’t you dare play with me about some other man, I’m a possessive asshole.”

His nose trails up my neck, leaving goosebumps in its wake, “So, tell me, Lettie.” He rasps against the shell of my ear. “What’s it going to be? We gonna keep playing pretend? You gonna make me chase you? Or can I finally kiss you like I’ve been dreaming of for twelve years now?”

My heart screams yes, begs me to let him kiss me. Put us both out of our misery, but he just buried his mom. “You sure this is the time to do this? I mean, are you thinking clearly?”

He freezes, pushing back to look me in the eyes, “Like I said, if you don’t want this, tell me. Because there’s no chance that I don’t.” My eyes flick away for a split second, but that was all it took for him to feel rejected.

A flash of hurt crosses his face before he’s standing up. A soft, uneven laugh fills the room as if he’s trying to disguise his hurt. Before he can step back, I grab the hem of his shirt and pull him back to me. “No, that isn’t what I was saying. I just don’t want to be an escape from the pain that you're feeling. I want you to kiss me because it feels like you’d die if you didn’t.”

“It’s felt that way for twelve years, Scarlett.”

That’s all I needed, the confirmation that this isn’t a heat of the moment decision. That he’s wanted me the same way I’ve wanted him all this time. I slide my hands up his chest, wrapping them around his neck before pulling him down on top of me. “Then kiss me, Goldie,” I whisper

He lowers himself until his knees are on the floor, his upper body covering mine completely. “Yes, ma’am.” He mumbles before closing the remaining distance. As if we were connected by an invisible string, the second his lips meet mine, it flares to life, filling me with enough heat to start a wildfire.

His lips are firm but soft as they press against my own. His hands bracket my hips, squeezing once before they begin to travel up my sides. His head tilts, lips slanting over mine in a way that covers more of them at once. Heat pools in my stomach at the heady mix of his fingers brushing against my ribs and the warmth of his tongue as it drags across the seam of my lips.

My back instinctively arches into him as I let out a breathy gasp. His tongue meets my own. They immediately begin to wrestle for dominance. But when his hands finally make it to the sides of my neck, his thumb pulls at my chin, holding me in place as he continues to kiss me with the kind of passion I only thought existed in movies.

“Lettie.” He growls against me as I trap his bottom lip between my teeth. My eyes fly open to meet his. Something raw and borderline feral burns in them. I can’t deny how powerful that makes me feel. Like me, making him come unglued is my ultimate superpower.